“At the end of the week there's going to be only one guy with the trophy; the normal thing therefore is to lose” - Rafael Nadal on how to deal with the pressure of expectations

Rafael Nadal believes that when players accept that in a sport like tennis there will only be one winner at the end of the week, they can deal better with the pressure that comes with expectations, both from themselves and from the outside.

At the recently concluded Canadian Open, Carlos Alcaraz made a second-round exit following a 6-7(4), 7-6(7), 6-3 defeat to Tommy Paul. Later, at his post-match press conference, the World No. 4, who was seeded second in Montreal, admitted to crumbling under pressure.

“It was a fight with myself, a little bit. I couldn't show my best performance here. Obviously it was tough to handle that moments knowing that I'm not playing my hundred percent. All I can say is that it was the first time that I couldn't handle the pressure. I felt the pressure to be the No. 2 seed in this kind of tournament, No. 4 in the world. It was the first time that I felt that pressure and I couldn't handle it,” he said.

Speaking in an interview with the official ATP website, Nadal said that Alcaraz has all the right people next to him and that one can enjoy playing without any burden in their initial years.

“I think he [Carlos Alcaraz] has the right people next to him. I don't have to tell him [any advice on handling pressure] anything, until he asks me. I think when you are very young and you are coming up and growing in the rankings just every week, in some way things are a little bit easier because you don't have that pressure that you have to win every week,” Nadal said.

“If you make the quarterfinals, great. If you make the semifinals, good. If you make the final, fantastic. And if you win, it's amazing. It's everything new and I remember at that stage of my career that you don't feel an obligation to win every week. You just play free. You probably don't realize how difficult is the things that you are doing, just enjoying every match playing without pressure,” he added.

The 36-year-old stated that players' approach and mentality will change as their rankings grow and they enter tournaments with expectations of winning trophies.

“But of course, when you are very high in the ranking, you arrive to a tournament and the expectations are ‘okay, maybe I need to win this tournament.’ Then the situation, the approach and mentality change a little bit,” Nadal said, adding, “But I don't think it's something that is affecting him [Alcaraz] a lot. I think he's great and I think he's having an amazing season. I don't see him having any problem handling this kind of pressure.”

Elaborating on how he dealt with pressure in his early days, the Mallorcan said that players must come to accept that only one can emerge victorious at the end of any tournament and that it’s normal to lose a lot of matches in one’s career.

“The thing is, at the end of the day when you play this sport you know that at the end of the week there’s gonna be only one guy with the trophy. The normal thing every week is to lose. The dynamics and the sport changes very quickly and you need to be ready to accept both things, the victories and the amazing things that can happen but at the same time, the injuries the tough moments, the losses. It's something that is part of our sport and we need to deal with that,” Nadal said.

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Rafael Nadal returns to action at 2022 Cincinnati Open

Rafael Nadal in action at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships

Rafael Nadal will return to action this week for the first time in over a month after suffering an abdominal tear that forced him to withdraw from Wimbledon in July.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion will take part in the Cincinnati Masters, where he is seeded second. He received a bye in the opening round and will face either Borna Coric or Lorenzo Musetti in the second round.

Speaking at his pre-tournament press conference at the Masters 1000 event, Nadal said that while he wants to compete and play, he will listen to his body every step of the way to avoid another injury scare.

“It means a lot to me to have that opportunity [to rise to No. 1 in the ATP rankings]. Something that I didn’t expect could happen again. The main thing is to stay healthy and play the events that I want to play," Nadal said. "I will not play more than what I believe works well for my body."